Offense stagnant for Redhawks hoops team

CVU boys host Spaulding on Friday

Jan. 20, 2011

By Mal BorightObserver correspondent

The Tide — Crimson, that is, from Spaulding High of Barre — will roll into Champlain Valley Union High’s Bremner Gymnasium on Friday to give the 3-4 CVU boys basketball team its first contest in more than a week.

The schedule then gets thicker as coach Scott Bliss and his Redhawks visit the Northeast Kingdom and St. Johnsbury Academy on Tuesday night.

In the meantime, the Redhawks have had since last midweek to inject some heat into their thus far chilly shooting hands.

The offensive coolness was well below zero in the Hawks’ 44-30 loss to Burlington High (3-4) on Thursday. CVU shot just 24 percent from the floor and 5-for-12 from the charity stripe, a veritable deep freeze.

The Seahorses never trailed following a nine-point run in the late first and early second period that turned a 4-4 tie (after the first seven minutes) into a 13-4 advantage with six minutes to intermission.

The rugged BHS quintet led 21-11 by halftime and kicked it up to 29-14 midway through the third quarter before the Redhawks, led by senior Jake Donnelly, made their lone run.

With Donnelly hitting two free throws, a layup and a trey, Eoin Karnes (from Ryan Boland) popping a layup and Robert Russ notching a threebie, the Redhawks made up big ground; CVU got to within 32-28 on Ryan Pierson’s layup after a Boland feed.

But that was the last hoop of the game for CVU. Burlington tightened its double dude defense on Donnelly and Russ and knocked off 10 straight points to ease back in command.

Donnelly had 14 points and 15 rebounds plus a pair of assists in the face of the BHS defense. Russ added seven points and three rebounds.

Solid center Bodel Zabili paced BHS with 10 points and 10 rebounds while guard Connor O’Shea nailed nine points including a pair of treys. The Seahorses held a 28-24 edge on the boards.

Burlington got off just 34 shots against a gritty CVU defense but hit 15 while the Redhawks were a chilly 11-for-45.